Simulation is a technique in computer architecture to calculate the performance of a new system or software application. Simulating complex systems and applications can be quite time consuming and process intensive.
Sampling techniques are commonly used to reduce the large overhead of simulation tools. The main idea behind sampling is to simulate only a limited number of application zones instead of the entire application execution. This technique, however, produces inaccuracies since only a portion of the execution paths are simulated with timing.